Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Vyacheslav Molotov, one-time protege of Joseph Stalin, arrived in Vienna on this day in 1960 as his country's surprise choice to be the Soviet Union's representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Molotov has been toiling in obscurity as ambassador to Outer Mongolia since Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev's denunciation of Stalin four years ago. His unannounced arrival in Vienna could signal a political rehabilitation for the former Soviet foreign minister.

In Hanoi on this day in 1960 a spokesman for Communist North Vietnam said the "revolutionary movement" in South Vietnam was prevailing over the forces of President Ngo Kinh Diem in the South. Le Duan said reuniting the South with the North was a major goal of the Communist government in North Vietnam.

Three days after his victory in the Democratic primary for Congress it was announced in Alexandria, Louisiana, that Earl K. Long had died in his sleep on this day in 1960. The three-time governor of the state was 65.

Today's newspapers carried stories reporting that both the Democratic and Republican candidates for president called American labor the key to surpassing the Soviet Union in the world battle against Communism.

Also in today's paper is a report from an "Atom Parley" in Geneva that 15 years after the first atomic bomb was exploded, the atom has not lived up to its potential as an energy source due to the high cost of power generation. Only four nations use atomic power to generate electricity.